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The Teacher's TimeLog
What is it?
The Teacher's TimeLog is a web-based tool that allows school staff to gather information on how time is spent in school. The goal is to enable everyone to study useful data on how time is really divided up in school (rather than force everyone to work from hunches or unexamined perceptions). In addition, a linked Survey collects teacher attitudes about how time is used, how it might be better used, and how to address challenges to the optimal use of time.
How does it work?
On Log days, teachers pay attention to the way they use their educational time, both in the classroom and outside of it. At the end of each Log day, they spend between ten and fifteen minutes recording their observations into the TimeLog. The web site guides them easily through the process, asking them to enter specific information about the time they spend teaching, planning, and performing other tasks. A FAQ button at the top of each page answers questions and, throughout the recording period, teachers have unlimited opportunities to edit their entries.
How is it useful?
At its most basic level, the TimeLog yields interesting data on the ways teachers allocate instructional, planning, and chore-related time. What percentage of time is used for whole-group instruction? How much instructional time is dedicated to each subject? How much planning time is devoted to cooperative (grade-level or departmental) planning? How much time does meetings, both planned and impromptu, claim?
Beyond this basic data, careful analysis of the TimeLog data can yield important-and often unexpected-information. Recent experiences with the TimeLog and Survey have uncovered these issues:
- In a district considering adding time to the instructional day, it was discovered that classroom interruptions, especially parental interruptions, took away feelings of teacher control and cost valuable instructional time. Rather than add minutes to the school day, this district redesigned its policy on drop-offs, pick-ups, and parents' access to the classroom during the day.
- A district concerned with revising its schedule to allow more time for whole-group instruction reevaluated that goal, when led to compare it against how time was actually spent in class and in light of the district's commitment to more differentiated instruction.
- A district concerned about the disruptions caused by pull-outs discovered that the absence of a clear policy on special programs had proven even more disruptive. Though this district did decide to redesign the scheduling of special services, it also created a new Calendar Committee to draft a special programs protocol and review proposed changes to the new policy.
How can the Teacher's TimeLog help us?
The Teacher's TimeLog can help you:
- understand how teachers allocate instructional and non-instructional time
- compare attitudes and perceptions about the use of time with actual data
- provide a firm foundation for any discussion about the use of time
- yield surprising insights and, often, suggest unexpected solutions to perceived problems
- prevent the imposition of attempted schedule "solutions" that actually fail to address core problems
- unite members of your community in an effort to understand local practice, enabling the design of effective solutions that meet everyone's needs.
Will it work for us?
Like all of the services provided by Authentic Education, the Teacher's TimeLog can be customized to meet your individual needs. Working from an existing template, you help us create a customized TimeLog and Survey that asks the questions most likely to get to the heart of your situation. Once data is complete, we analyze the results critically. In the end, you receive not only raw data, but a thorough report that identifies areas of concern and makes recommendations for how you might address these areas. If you like, Authentic Education stands ready to present the findings to your community, answering questions about the findings and working to forge consensus on what needs to happen next.
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